Shaun Edwards

Read an article in which he said the lions snub nearly made him quit rugby union and head down under to the NRL, where he had received lots of offers. I would love to see Edwards back in league and preferably as coach of England, but I can't see it myself as with andy farrell the pull of union on the world stage is to great both financial and personal honours.

It's actually something that really annoys me in my normal business life. People think that somebody who is a good 'do-er' will transfer to being the best manager. Often it is miles out.

Just because somebody is good at throwing a rugby ball, or kicking it accurately, is not the same thing as them being a good manager.

It is very rare that we see absolutely brilliant players in any sport go on to become brilliant managers.

Most of the best managers had modest playing success at best in their sport.

Absolutely. It is often the fact that their skills didn't come easy which made them understand how they do what they do, unlike the naturally-gifted players, because it's so instinctive and simple to them. How many of England's 1966 Word Cup winning footballers made it in management? Workhorse Jack Charlton and Alan Ball are the only two I can think of.

Edwards was always going to be good at the coaching side, due to his work ethic, furious intensity and concentration on the job in hand.

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it isn’t open. Frank Zappa (1940 - 1993)

im sure he did receive plenty of offers, though i doubt any were for Head coaches roles.. and to be honest theres absolutely no chance of an NRL club giving a current British RL coach a head coaches position, let alone a RU coach, albeit one with a good RL pedigree.

The only coaching role that would be offered to any Brit over there would be as an assistant first.

In the Guardian article from which this thread has arisen, Edwards speaks only of the possibility of "re-learning" his (rugby league) "trade" as an assistant coach in the ARL... nowhere does it suggest that he had received any concrete offers at all.

But I also don't think it takes a massive leap of faith to see him as a top rugby coach.

I actually think it is for a fan who will actually know very little of what he is really like in his work career.

You could make an assumption that he would be a success based on his management in RU, but tactically we have no idea whether he would be a success in a game which has changed a fair bit since he was last involved.

Some strangely negative posts in this thread. Edwards is a RL legend who has developed a rep as one of the best coaches in RU. It would be a massive publicity boost for our game should he ever come back, and I can't see why anyone would really be against it.